


Slipping Through My Fingers

by The_Muse_Sappho



Category: No Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Bikers, Childhood Friends, Christmas Decorations, Dorkiness, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, Falling In Love, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Friendship, Gay Panic, Healing, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Love Confessions, Motorcycles, Music, New York, Oblivious, Romance, Slice of Life, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Tragedy, Useless Lesbians, artsy lesbians, i'm doing my best okay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:48:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28197168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Muse_Sappho/pseuds/The_Muse_Sappho
Summary: “Sweet mother, I cannot weave –slender Aphrodite has overcome mewith longing for a girl.”― SapphoAsh and Scarlett, a tale of love, romance, tragedy, and heartbreak. Childhood friends of the closest kind, separated by cataclysm. Can love bloom, or are they fated to a relationship of hatred and spite once more?
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Female Character
Kudos: 3





	1. Here We Go Again

This is a tale of love, passion, fury, hate, and a tale of finding one another. A story of healing and becoming whole. For love may not complete us, but it certainly can.

Alas, here begins our story, of tragic woe and of love of heart.

The Professor paused for a moment readjusting his glasses a little before glancing out at the window. Quite the fine day in New York City. The weeklong storm had washed every sidewalk and gutter clean and a tincture of freshness still lingered in the air, despite, of course, the traffic fumes. Yet the sound of the vibrant cars that habituated the concrete jungle was music for both eyes and soul, bringing a wave of sweet earthly joy.

"There is no better curse than love. Death will do us part but love, all forms of it, will keep us alive. A perfect blessing, and the most powerful of hexes. Don't close your heart, for love is a cruel mistress, and she will fight back."

The Professor sat down his copy of the book onto the table, the cover facing upwards as he got up from the table and began to speak

"Well class, here you have it. We've successfully finished the work that arguably, only Sappho herself could outmatch. This book has made a massive contribution to literature as a whole and is one of the main fragments of history that tells us a tale of mythology, love, and a bit more. " He dialogued, snatching a few looks at the clock to make sure he wouldn't miss out on any necessary information before he finished

"Which is precisely why," he continued "I want each of you to write a paper on love. It's a delicate topic, one that each of you should handle carefully. Just make the topic about love, I'll grade the rest. A little early but this your end-of-year assignment, and uh Ms. Olivia, please don't put your poetry on the same page as your paper, it's great stuff but not necessarily the most academic. " He said, a kind smile on his face as a laugh went round the class, with dear Olivia left a little embarrassed as she tried to hold back a smile as the class started to pack all their things up. Our Professor was an amusing sort. Whatever witty retort his students had, he had one better. But he wasn't cruel or mean or any of the sorts, he was a kind man, deeply passionate about the literature of the world, and not to mention, quite handsome as well.

"Class dismissed!" he shouted out from the infernal clanging of the school bell, taking a final sip of his mug as he watched his students leave before continuing "And no homework y'all, enjoy your weekend everyone!" which clearly was quite the popular move between everyone, seeing as few cheers of joy and all were exclaimed from a few of his more... jock students you could say.

But Dear Reader, I'm sure the story of the Professor and his class isn't the one you want to read. Well I think, I'm not sure. Either way, our story begins with Ash Corbin, quite the influential character in this little story. After all, she is one of the protagonists of our little tale.

She left the class, holding one strap of her bag by the back as she went off to her locker and grabbed the rest of her notebooks and all for the weekend. Her light brown corduroy jacket brushed against the door as she walked down the hall cluttered with her various colleagues.

Crowded with people, chaos in the hallway seemed so perfect, as if a movie where cliques would remain the same eternally. The truth was much different than you'd expect Dear Reader, for it was an imperfect place of nothing less than perfection. But that is, indeed, a story for a different time

Her jacket perfectly fit with both her mahogany skin, the hue of an English oak in spring rains, and as beautiful from the first rays of dawn to the serenade of every starlit night, along with an ivory Egyptian cotton poet blouse, hardly enough to protect her from the chill fall of New York City. But if anything, the cold never really bothered her anyway. Her cuffed ripped baby blue jeans dress coded her various times but in a public college in the so-called Land of Opportunity, did that ever matter?

She got up to her locker, a slightly bent locker from the incident that had happened later on in the year, and got out all her stuff.

"Fuck, what do I need?" she muttered to herself under her breath as stuck her hand in her mess of a locker, paper, and a lot more all around. Ash was generally a fairly organized person but good Lord, who knew what lied behind that mess.

Well, surprisingly, nothing too bad. Ash was a follower of the arts herself, aspiring musician and poet, she made her own poems of love and tragedy along with songs of misery and joy on the guitar her now-deceased father had given to her on her 15th birthday.

"Okay, I think that's it? Uh..." she thought to herself as she closed off her backpack, and in the corner of her eye, she glanced at the mixtape in the side of her locker a memory of a happier time. She thought over whether she should've just destroyed it a long time ago.

"I'll get it out another time. It isn't worth it." she thought to herself as she closed her locker door, being sure to lock it, and grabbed her backpack from the marble floor of the school hall. She hurried off to the main entrance, wanting to leave the building, and head off to her apartment. Walking. It wasn't too far away, although she always wished she could come back to someplace nicer, not the cramped little home she lived in.

"Ash wait up!!!!" she heard her name being shouted by a familiar voice as she headed her way home

"Oh, hey Sofi," Ash replied back nonchalantly, turning her head as she saw her friend Sofia behind her and paused a little to let her catch up.

"How was class?" Ash asked as her friend caught up to her and they performed their signature little handshake, it was one of the few things that managed to brighten up her day, and she showed it, with a grin that managed to make her hazel eyes rise up sparkle like a jewel in the sun.

"It was like AMAZING!! You know Astrophysics and Mechanical Engineering are just so awesome it's ridiculous. And the MATH too, I'll just tell you this, formulae and thermodynamics are a hell of a lot more important, it's so fun!" her friend geeked out as they walked together, feeling the cold against her neck as she readjusted her scarf. "What about you?"

"Yeah well sweetie, we can't all be geniuses like you." Ash teased as she caught Sofia rolling her eyes. "Either way class was fine, we finished our book! Turns out it's my favorite, cause lesbians, but like it's probably written by Sappho cause there's no way someone else could have written that, like come on, there is no better curse than love? That is just… so very deep" she laughed, fixing the backpack on her shoulder, putting her phone back in her pocket.

"I'll pretend I'm familiar with Sappho for your sake. But true, lesbians are a great reason to make a book your favorite." Sofia replied before continuing, her voice a little raspy from the cold outside as she tried to warm up her hands. "But I mean like maybe that's possible no? Like the Universe has all this weird and fascinating stuff! I mean come on; galactic cannibalism exists! It's not as if like Sappho has to write everything. Well I think, is she really that good?." she asked  
Ash shot a sharp teasing look at her friend and rolled her eyes "Science girl really?" she smirked, not surprised to the least that her friend had much such a huge leap in comparisons. Galactic cannibalism was arguably less believable than Sappho being a time-traveling poet. Although, it wasn't exactly an impossible concept.

"Hey, I'm just saying! You never know!" she replied a little taken aback,

"Mhm sure." she sighed as she put her freezing hand into the warm wool of her coat. "Anyway, what are you doing later on? I was thinking you could head over to my place and do a movie marathon? Oh, and I could show you some of my new songs too!" Ash asked as she glanced over to her friend, deep into thought over mathematical terms... A mystery to most other people. Although Ash never tired of Sofi's somewhat more interesting quirks

"Hm? Oh yeah of course! I'd love to!" she replied, a grin on her face as she giggled a little excitedly 

"Yes, yes, I'm sure you'll find a way to prove me wrong, after all, you're the mathematical genius aren't you?" she replied, doing her best to act a little exasperated as they stopped at her apartment door, a fairly clean and modern place from the outside, there wasn't much good to be said about the inside.

"So wanna hear upstairs now? We can get started on the marathon," she suggested, fidgeting around with the loose thread on her pants

"I gotta finish up my quantum mechanics project, so no. Sorry!!! But don't worry, I'll be here for the movie!" she replied, a little disappointed she wouldn't be able to hang out with her friend right about now.

"Honey it's fine, no problem! I have to clean up the place anyway, it's a mess," she replied, trying to soothe her friend make sure to let her know that it really wasn't a problem.

"You sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure, now go and work Science Girl!" she laughed and pulled Sofia into a hug, nothing too special, a friendly little hug of sorts as they tried to fight back against the blistering cold of New York City, if anything, it worked.

"Bye, love you!" Ash shouted as she opened the door to her condominium, trying to ignore the stench of what seemed to be something dead, which wasn't exactly very uncommon in the dump she lived in. The walls were dirty, the wallpaper was peeling off, it smelled like piss (very literally occasionally) most of the time, the floors had their wooden pattern faded from the ground long ago, a thin layer of dust on top as the landlord refused to do anything about it. The place has a general vibe of eeriness age discomfort that wasn't exactly pleasant to anyone.

But hey, it was a house!

"Hey Mr. Bojing," she muttered at her landlord, as she walked into the reception, he was somewhat of a mystery and usually kept to himself. He had a sort of not my problem philosophy and didn't necessarily care about the condition of anyone's rooms as long as they paid up. Nonetheless, he was a kind sort and had maintained a friendly relationship with Ash, and her with him. After all, he was the one who had helped her study for the final Chinese exam last year.

"Ach! My favorite resident!" he replied, a slight accent coming from him as he looked up from the book he was reading, a soft smile on his face "How was uh..." he paused, a puzzled look on his face as he tried to remember the correct term "School! How was school?" he asked

"It was fine, oh we finished reading the book I told you about!" she eagerly replied, opening her purse to get her house keys

"Oh, the one about love and all yes. You know, back in Vietnam we have this story called Con Rong Chau Tien. Unbelievably beautiful. " he nodded. Mr. Bojing was a sort of expert on all sorts of Ancient Asian mythology and was apparently quite the historian back in his homeland, which made it frankly, a little strange why he decided to come to New York and become a landlord of all things.

"Hm really? You have to tell me it sometimes" she asked, fairly interested in the topic, our protagonist wasn't the superstitious sort but any sort of mythology did intrigue her. "Well I gotta get going, have to finish up some stuff." she continued, giving a little wave to her landlord as she left to ride the elevator

"Bye! Rent's due next week!" he shouted as the stained grey metal elevator doors closed

"Yeah I'll uh, I'll pay that!" she shouted back a little hesitantly, her voice a little muffled by the doors that stood in front of her, she wasn't exactly in the best financial spot at the moment. She always had thought of publishing some of her songs somewhere but always decided against it, they probably weren't even that good.

"She's a nice girl, wondered what happened to that friend of hers." our lovely Chinese landlord muttered to himself as the elevator doors closed and Ash went up to her room.

If there was one good thing to say about her place, it was that the view was spectacular.

One could stare into the dark inky night, the sunset of myth, or even the sunrise that brought life back upon the world.

Aside from that, however...

Well, her apartment wasn't exactly very luxurious. But while maybe poor by design and in practically everything, it was rich with memories of joy, sadness. An empty house with the fullest of life.

She opened the keys to her apartment and made sure to clean it up a little, taking a few clothes off the floor, and made the place a little tidier than it usually was.

She headed off to the shower and got out, a slight migraine and wanting nothing more than to wear her pride-themed pajamas with maybe a hoodie on top, and have her friend over so they could marathon a movie series all night long.

Well maybe not all night long, staying up till 8 am would be somewhat pushing it.

With a towel wrapped around her hair, she left the shower and grabbed her phone from the kitchen, and texted Sofia

"Yo, wanna come on over?"

She waited a bit for the reply, she was probably doing homework. Or doing math for fun. Well, those two were somewhat related for her, but not necessarily the point.

"omg YESSS!!!!! I'll be there in like 20 minutes!"

"Aight see you soon, you better come gurl" Ash finished off, a little smirk on her face as she got dressed up and made some popcorn for the both of them, the cheap microwave kind which, frankly, wasn't even that bad.

A few moments later she heard the bell ring from the reception, it was probably Mr. Bojing telling her that Sofi was downstairs, she hurried on over and touched the button, the irritating ringing sound ceasing to a stop.

"Ash? Sofiá is downstairs, can she come up?" he asked, he had seen her quite a few times but they weren't exactly the most acquainted, a little to her dismay considering that she was a friendly sort.

"Oh yeah of course! Send her up Mr. Bojing" she replied before getting the popcorn from the microwave and setting it up in front of the TV, she turned it on and hoped Sofi had an idea for what to watch.

Moments later she heard a knock against her oak door, at least she didn't ring the doorbell, to put it simply, Satan's roar from hell wouldn't come close to the pain that bell brought.

"Come in!" Ash shouted as she walked over from the living room "Hey Sofi." she said as she pulled her in for their handshake

"Hey Ash!" she smiled as she got pulled in for the handshake, wearing a grey sweater with a cartoon rocket and the words "Space Rocks" on the image. If anything, it was the most adorable thing you'd ever put your eyes on, and it was a perfect match for the nerdy aesthetic and glasses Sofia held.

"So, what do you wanna watch? I got some popcorn!" Ash said as she let go and plopped down on the couch, reclining her legs a little and glancing over at her phone for a quick second

Sofia followed quickly after and sat down on the couch, she felt perfectly comfortable, after all, this was practically her second home considering her actual home was empty most of the time. Swedish Rock Bands practicing on the floor upstairs tended to get annoying. Interesting to listen to at first, but at some point, you'd get fed up with them and have to end up taking their songs out of your playlist.

"Well, I've got a ton of science movies I've been meaning to watch OR uh we can watch like... Uh. Harry Potter?" she suggested trying to figure out something they'd both like. Ash wasn't exactly the biggest science fan, although she did tend to have a somewhat interest in the various social sciences, the more philosophical part, not the brain itself, however.

"Honey I've watched Harry Potter to the point I can remember every line Ginny says, and I still think she should've gotten together with Luna." she sighed, JKR HAD been her idol, once in a blue move but goddamn that girl was doing horribly on Twitter. "What typa science movies you got?" she continued before passing her the remote

"Umm..." she hesitated as she thought about the main movie she wanted to watch. There was one about social trigonometry... And one about nanoparticles in physics...

"Oh I know!" she blurted out, the idea striking right at her head as she snatched the remote from Ash's hands "No, promise you won't judge cause this is probably gonna be the nerdiest and most boring movie you'll ever see. And don't worry, it won't be a documentary"

"Well, I mean" Ash replied, trying to find a comeback to that "I'm sure it won't be TOO boring. Nerdiest of course, but I'm sure it'll be an interesting movie." she continued, a smile on her face as she did her best to support her, clearly very enthusiastic, and slightly nerdy friend.

Who knows? Maybe she'd love it!

"Okay but if you end up falling asleep, I won't hesitate to give you an hour lecture about the importance of biology in sociology." she teased as she clicked a few buttons on the remote and got onto the film

"Jokes on you Sofi, I'd fucking love that." she teased back with a little smirk on her face as she scooted over to her on the couch before grabbing a handful of popcorn.

"Oh Ryan Goslings in this, great choice." she laughed, noticing the title card of the movie. He was certainly one of her favorite actors, and honestly, she sure as hell wasn't gonna complain if the movie showed some abs, cause pecs are pecs, regardless if they got a dick or something else.

"Is that even scientifically possible??" she asked, Sofi rolling her eyes a little as they saw the incredibly complex engineering process of the plan they were designing.

"No, it isn't. Everyone knows that quantum teleportation depends on a vector of light and quantum matter! But, I guess that like depending on the sub-electronic particles it could be possible?? Kind of??" she replied hesitantly, not sure if that statement was entirely correct or not.

"Honey no... What the fuck are you doing??" she groaned out as the classic horror TV trope came upon the movie and a lone lady was investigating a sound that came from the basement

"I know right??? She isn't even using the subatomic death particle ray! And to think she was an award-winning scientist..." she muttered annoyed, quite a little disappointed in the lack of common sense found in a noble prize winner.

Well, to be fair, it's not like any of the other characters would do much better.

The night passed as hour came upon hour of cries of annoyance, and laughter, and cheers of joy as the movie continued. Stars light the up sky like snowflakes in the night, yet they appeared still, like an old photograph, longing for days of old, the sky was a black tranquility, married to a poetry of stars as they shone upon a world tired of the sun that came to haunts nights of love and tears.

"Well, I can successfully say that this movie, is the most beautiful shit I've ever seen. That scene where they had the shootout at the cliff??? FUCKING ICONIC" she laughed, setting the remote down as the credits began to roll

"I knew you'd enjoy it!!! Well, not really. But that's not the point!" Sofi giggled a little as she grabbed another handful of the popcorn.

"Either way yes, it certainly was quite the film. Especially the uh... You know. " she teased, smirking a little as she tried to hold back a laugh

Ash's eyes opened wide open, revealing her dark hazel as she pointed a finger at Sofia "Don't you dare mention that part!!!" she shouted, an embarrassed grin on her face "Look, it's not my fault, if anything, blame capitalism."

"As much as I indeed do love to blame capitalism for everything, I'm not sure that what you did was a product of capitalism honey." Sofi teased, a little amused at her reaction

"I uh... Well I mean like..." she stammered out, trying to think of a valid excuse for that

"Okay uh... Maybe it wasn't cause of capitalism," she admitted, a little ashamed as she rearranged herself on the couch, her legs crossing each other as she refused to conform to society sit properly.

"Don't worrryyy!! I'm sure uh tons of other people have gone through the same thing," she replied playfully, they probably hadn't but the words were a sort of comfort nonetheless.

"That's definitely n-" a little scream came from one of the girls as a phone on the table, vibrating as it practically begged to be picked up, leaving the almost torture it suffered to be released.

"OH FUCK WHAT WAS THAT???" screamed Sofi, just a little startled from the phone call that happened just about a few seconds ago. It didn't help that the ring tone was "Dancing Queen", an amazing song yes, but slightly alarming when there was total silence except for two fairly calm voices, especially when the sound blasted at full volume.

Ash quickly composed herself and grabbed her phone "Relax genius, it's just my phone." she said trying to calm her startled friend "Fuck I should really lower this" she muttered, a little amused as she muted her phone

"Well like who is it?? Phones don't ring like that by themselves! Well, usually, I'm pretty sure ghosts can like possess things?"

"It's V. Should I pick up? She's probably gonna rant about Jesse again." she laughed, as much as she loved V, she was certainly a little of a hopeless romantic. Well, a little was understating it. She was as the young ones call it, a "simp", and it was easy to admire how hard she simped over one single non-binary pal.

"Of course you should!!! I totally wanna hear her rant about how Jesse sending her a goodnight text is actually them being in love with her!" she said, without a single trace of irony as she rolled her eyes at the very thought, Sofi thought the whole concept of romance as a whole was a little bizarre. Although that most definitely didn't stop her from geeking out whenever her favorite characters got together.

"I'll pick up just cause you said that, only I get to insult my girl V like that!" she teased, sticking out her tongue like a little toddler.

She clicked on the green button and accepted the call, putting her on speaker to make sure Sofi could listen

"Yo V, what's up?" she said, sticking out her phone on the palm of her hand as she heard a slightly infernal sound coming from the background

"ASHHHHH WAS GOOOD???" she screamed at the top of her lungs, her voice coming ever so slightly distorted from the audio feedback on the phone, a little painful for everyone's ears

"Uh..." Ash glanced over at Sofia, unsure of what to say and a little shocked at V's... Passionate tone of voice.

"What are you looking at me for??? I'm equally as confused as you are!!" Sofia mouthed.

Ash shot her a glance and looked back at her phone "I'm fine V... And you?" she asked a little confused on the whole situation and why V was uh... So energetic.

Well, she usually was her vibrant self, but not necessarily to this extreme.

"OH I'M HELLA FUCKING GOOD!! COME ON WHERE YOU AT??" she screamed, which unfortunately still somewhat hurt the ears of everyone on the speaker end, she was loud enough that even Mr. Bojing heard.

Well, that wasn't very hard. The walls were thin and there were quite a few cases of reasonably sized holes, nonetheless, the residents didn't complain much about these and used them as passageways aside from the elevator.

Dear Reader do keep in mind that the elevator had a common habit of breaking down and the power going out at the same time. Which, wasn't a very pleasant situation, to say the least.

"I'm at home? With Sofi?" she replied, a little hesitantly, not sure of what exactly the music in the background was either way. "Hi V!" Sofi said, trying to ease some of the tension of not knowing what the hell was going on.

"WELL GET YOUR ASS TO THE AMAZON DEVIL'S THEY GOT FREE DRINKS TONIGHT!!!" she cheered, slurring her words as she (they assumed) took another drink of what would end up being called that night, "The RaVen"

"Also," said another familiar voice that seemed to take away the phone from V "she's drunk as FUCK sis, and she needs a ride home. And I sure as fuck ain't gonna drive her home so you better get your ass in here Ash." the familiar voice said, much more sober and reasonable, and a little deeper than V's voice.

"Hey Jesse." she laughed hearing their voice "Don't worry, me and Sofi will be there."

"Great, now uh I gotta go cause I'm pretty sure she went to ask for more drinks," they replied, groaning a little as they hang up the call

"ASH WHAT THE FUCK???"

"Oh uh... We're going to the Amazon Devil's now?" she spoke out a little hesitantly as she looked away, playing with her hair as she tried to act innocent.

"W-wh..." she stammered out trying to think of something to reply to that with "You know what? Fuck it. I'm probably gonna regret this tomorrow morning, but uh got nothing to lose am I right?" she said confidently, determined, with nothing to stop her.

Ash looked at her both a little surprised and shocked at her reaction "Sofi what the fuck?? You're insane. Let's do it."

Well, that was certainly an escalation.

"But first!" she continued "We gotta dress up! Cause honey, I love your outfit but there's no way we're going out in this. Maybe another night." Ash said as she stood up, putting her phone in her pocket

Sofia was every so slightly hurt by the comment but quickly saw that it wasn't exactly incorrect, to say the least. Despite being incredibly fashionable with her science sweater, it wasn't exactly clothes that you could wear and get incredibly drunk with.

"And don't worry darling, I have the perfect clothes! Come on!" she grabbed onto her hand and pulled her off to the bedroom.

Dear Reader, no.

"Oh you'd look amazing in this!!!" she smiled as she took out a red flannel shirt and a pair of light blue jeans, ripped to the point of showing off some leg. "Just tie the flannel a bit, like a crop top?" she suggested as she passed over the clothes to Sofi

"Uh, sure! Thanks, Ash!" she said as she took the pair of clothes and went off to change

"Now... What do I wear?" she muttered under her breath as she looked around her closet, sorting through her outfits and clothes with one hand as she bit the nails on the other. She caught glimpse of a shiny leather jacket

"God I haven't worn this in years..." she gasped as she took it out of the closet, slightly dusty but with a swipe of her hand she cleaned that off.

"Fuck it. Might as well," she muttered and went off to get dressed.

A while later she grabbed the keys to her car and a little something to eat

"Wanna get going?" she asked Sofi as she opened her apartment door, with a nod from her friend they went down the elevator and into the car.

The night rode in on a horse of pure midnight velvet, beckoned by the stars under the glow of a full moon, under the serenade of the twilight black, they're a choir; they're the lights that sing in as they glow onto the whole world.

"Okay, so who's gonna get drunk? Cause at least one of us has to drive everyone home." Ash said, two hands on the wheel as she took a curve around the rock hard road

"Well, I suppose I'll have to take the HORRIBLE decision to get drunk, truly what a punishment," she replied, doing her best to act exasperated and rolling her eyes

"A true punishment indeed huh," Ash smirked as she took a curve around the street. "But just saying, you better not get as drunk as V did, cause honey that is a frightening thought," she admitted pausing at the red light like a RESPONSIBLE driver

"Ashh, I would never! Well, a lie but you get what I'm saying. But I have heard of people getting smarter when they're drunk! Who knows, maybe I'll solve the theory of relativity?"

Ash shot her a glance and rolled her eyes a little "Honey, the only smarter drunk people get is the day after when they find out that the amount they drank might have not been the best idea."

"I uh... That's a good point. Just let me drink Ash!" she groaned playfully as she readjusted herself on the car seat. The car wasn't exactly the best quality, seeing as it was owned by the previous owner for 20 years who never bothered to keep it in boot condition. In terms of brand... Well, that was a mystery for the both of them, at least it got them around from place to place, even if it had the occasional tendency to break down at the worst times.

"Oh drink all you want Sofi, I'll be here tomorrow holding your hair while you puke." she teased, getting a snarky look from the soon-to-be-wasted girl.

A few moments later they had arrived, Ash parked her car at a place nearby and they both got out of the car, feeling the chilly New York wind against them as they braced the frosty night "You got everything?" she asked as she rubbed her hands against each other, breathing onto to them in hopes of not catching hypothermia.

"Yeah don't worry, let's just get going, it's uh kinda cold," Sofi admitted as they hurried on over to the bar.

The light was on inside, not like the usual Northern Lights; beneath the dry-ice smoke swirled an array of blues, acid greens, hot pinks, and gold. But a white spotlight shone on the piano, the pure ivory keys marching into view, shimmering in the stage light as if they were the moon on this starry night; bright, beautiful, and breath-taking.

The mahogany wood fell to the ground, covered with shadows as the only light gave way to a place of music, the crowd embraced the music as they stood there, admiring the sound that fell into their souls as the symphony began, most beautiful of them all. Although, fairly melancholic

"An eternal flame could quench my soul

I never did ask for this.

I broke your heart, and yours mine

But I'll live on, broken

I'll live on, happy that you never came back

For hate, hate will quench my soul

Douse me in flames,

But I could ask, for nothing less

I don't miss you at all

I think I dug a thousand graves,

But I'll live."

As the final note rang into the shadows of the night, drunken cheers erupted from the crowd, but one face was left speechless. Ash stood there, shocked to the core as she saw the face of the pianist,

It was her.


	2. A Bad Idea Indeed

She rose from the piano as the crowd cheered around her "Thanks y'all! Same time next week!" she shouted from the applause, a slight New York accent in her voice as she came down from the stage and went off to the bar.

"That was amazing!" Sofia gasped beneath her breath, a hand on her heart as she heard the words around her heart, the words that touched her very soul. This moment didn't last for a long time and she fairly quickly composed herself, love songs were nice, but drinking was nicer. "Anyway I'm gonna get hella fucking drunk, you want anything?" she asked looming at her clearly shocked friend

"Uh... No... I-I'm fine." she managed to stutter out, while clearly a little confused on her friend's reaction, she shrugged and went off to the bar, hoping to see if anyone would indulge in her theories of space quantum matter.

"Of all the nights she could've come, it had to be this one huh?" she snarled through her teeth as she looked at her while she talked to another lady. Those brilliant Emerald eyes hadn't changed one fucking bit... And that auburn hair, like glowing embers that twirl in a fiery dance, like stars in the hot swirling air.

"Fuck her and those beautiful glowing eyes..." she muttered furiously as she tried to calm herself, she'd have been perfect if she'd never have seen that bitch again. The bitch in question, Scarlett Moore, she and Ash had somewhat of a... Long history.

"No, you're fine Ash. She doesn't deserve your hatred anyway..." she thought to herself as she tried to calm her furious breathing a little, releasing her tightened fist as she tried to look away from her.

"Well, it's my fault. Of course, she would've been here, she's a fucking member of the club," she muttered under her breath, clearly a little more than upset at her own idiocracy, she tried to find Jesse and V, already looking at Sofi who seemed to have hit it up with a few guys, gals, and non-binary pals who were:

1\. Very drunk   
2.Talking about matters of science and death

They didn't seem to be exactly smarter than their sober selves, quite the opposite, in fact, they seemed to be somewhat louder and suggesting more bizarre theories such as bears actually being penguins in disguise.

Well, they did have some scientific evidence to back it up, if anything they made quite a bit of sense if you were as drunk as they were. And Sofi despite not actually drinking that much, was... Well, batshit drunk.

"Good to know she's having a good time." Ash chuckled under her breath as she saw her friends scream outlandish theories, telling of penguins, frogs, time, space, and The Dichotomy Paradox.

She dove into the crowd of dancers, an adventurer looking in the lost forest for a sacred artifact, forgotten by both time and history. In this case, the artifact was a drunk hopeless romantic and a person who refused to conform to the gender binary that was imposed by the patriarchy, proud of their identity, they'd never back down.

Well, arguably, that's a better artifact than whatever gold or statue was out there.

Yet as she pushed and pulled herself through the dance floor as she ventured to find her friends, she found none of that, finding herself, instead, in the middle of the dance floor when suddenly, the lights turned darker, a more aesthetic blue as the music slowed to a stop.

Couples found themselves together, strangers embraced as love cured their worries, they would bond together for one night, and leave to come back the next, perhaps longing for what they felt the previous night, longing for a deeper bond.

But that was a thought that lingered behind their minds, secondary to perhaps a more carnal desire.

Her thoughts of getting out of the dance floor were soon interrupted by a familiar yet very unwelcome voice.

"Ashleigh, fucking, Corbin."

Her head turned to her right as she saw what she dreaded at that very moment. Half of her face was covered by the shadows of the room, nothing visible except that beautiful Emerald of hers, while the other half showed nothing less than the person she hated most. She was sticking her hand out, asking for a dance.

"Scarlett Moore."

"Been a while since we last saw each other huh?"

"Can't say I didn't enjoy it," Ash replied, a look of grimace and hatred on her face as she stared right into the sparkling eyes of her true hate.

She took the hand and pulled her closer until her hot breath fell on top of her detested acquaintance

"Really? That hurts, ya know?" she said, putting on an act of misery and tears as she shot her a deadly stare.

"Fuck if I care, you remember what you did, don't you?" she snarled back as she pulled her in. They embraced the dance floor, making it their as own. Their bodies fused the music, making it their own, their body's movements flowed with a dazzling grace, fusing with the music as they let it take control, every step precise and calculated.

"The ax forgets, but the tree remembers. From what I remember, you aren't that innocent. Aren't you?"

The music soared through the air like an eagle on an up-draft, taking with it their very souls as they descended together in a battle of hell, they danced like angels, and the passion of devils, embracing their bodies as Ash turned her around for a spin, the biker jacket Scarlett wore reflecting the light upon her the, a breathtaking melody that seemed to do nothing but lit their souls with rage, a burning passion once forgotten, but it was all coming back.

"It wasn't my fault. I did what I had to."

Their touch grew tighter, refusing to let go. Familiarity was a drug, and they couldn't afford to let themselves grow addicted, they refused to. Perhaps, in an ancient time, but as they moved upon the old wooden floor, they felt nothing but a hatred of passion, a desire to see one another burn, a desire s= deep, burned deep into the flames that lit their soul.

Their pace became more intense as the music grew wilder, less controlled, they dived back down. And as the music let its final note be released onto the world, a memory to be preserved, Scarlett dipped Ash and they stood there in silence, staring into one another's eyes as if the world were about to end, and lovers ceased to let go. Ash's eyes were burning embers of fire, the hazel brown glowing in the dark light as Scarlett's emeralds sparkled in the dark temple of worship, a temple of music and drink.

"I hate you," Ash said as she was pushed back up, brought close to the face of her rival, feeling her hot breath against her neck.

And as they embraced the dark, lying in the shadows of the night club, Scarlett cracked a smile, not of pain or joy, but something else entirely.

Of what exactly, was a whole entire other question.

Their faces were barely apart, so close to touching each other, their breathing was shallow as they stared into one another's eyes, refusing to let go.

"Hate you too Ash. This was fun," she whispered into her ear, her soft words ringing into her ear, a soft echo.

And just as Ash began to speak, Scarlett let go and disappeared into the crowd, nowhere to be seen, a ghost who went into the shadows she lived in.

"Well, that was..."

The truth was, she didn't know what to say. Emotions crowded themselves against her as she refused to let them in, she'd forget about this, just like she forgot about her.

"Fuck her, I'll get Sofi and we can leave..." she muttered under her breath as she ventured back out into the crowd, pushing people away as she went to find Sofi.

It didn't take her long, she was shouting at V and Jesse about her new theory of technological mechanics and why they were actually galactic entities doomed to kill us all.

Ash quickly interrupted the conversation, Jesse didn't exactly look as sober as he was on the phone and they all looked like if they were left alone, they'd probably blow a government building up.

Which well, wasn't necessarily a bad thing, prison wasn't the best place to be in societal terms.

"ASHHH!!!! YOU'RE HERE!!!" screamed an intoxicated V who chugged the rest of her drink and charged at her to give her a man hug.

V was quite the tall type, and being on the larger side didn't necessarily help with being bear-hugged by her, nonetheless, she didn't complain. If anything, it was familiar, and at that moment something familiar was always gonna be welcome.

Besides, a hug, even a smothering one, was always great.

"Y-yeah I'm hereee.." she managed to gasp out, begging for air as she felt her ribs getting cracked, good lord this girl was strong. She gave a pat on her back "Okay that's enough." she groaned out, breathing a sigh of relief as she was let go

"ASHHH!! PENGUINS ARE ALIENS FROM MARS!" she heard Sofi yell, slurring her words as she divulged into the weird world of scientific madness.

Meanwhile, Jesse was fairly quiet, they weren't exactly an active drunk per se and didn't have anything much to say, aside from a few mutters.

"Okay let's get going home, shall we? Everyone looks a little drunk..." Ash said, trying to calm everyone down and get them home safely. Well, she'd try anyway, if they were being too much of a hassle she'd just put them all in her place.

"Come onnnn... Drink a little!!!" Sofi giggled, despite this singular complaint, she didn't refuse when Ash took her hand alongside V's, Jesse seemed to be following them, not requiring any particular assistance.

"Honey, not tonight, a car accident is probably a terrible idea right about now." she chuckled as she opened the club door and they ventured off outside.

The street was lit by nothing more than the orange lights that stood tall and high against the ground, a symbol of hope for the metal monsters that roamed the streets. At this time, there was nothing. No sound aside from the drunken rambles of her friends.

"Alright let's get going! I don't want anyone catching hypo-" she was quickly interrupted by V, who had a somewhat desire to tell her she was amazing.

"ASHHH YOU'RE AMAZING!!!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!! YOU'RE LIKE AWESOME!!!!" she screamed, her voice echoing across the empty streets of New York, if anyone was awake, they'd probably get out and start screaming at them, and if they were sleeping, they sure as hell might do the same.

Nonetheless, she did feel fairly flattered over the compliment and couldn't help but blush her usual crimson red as she heard what V had to say.

"Aww... Thank you V!" she said, a sweet smile playing on her lips. She snapped back into reality a few moments later "Okay but uh, let's get going."

She held back onto the cold hands of her friends as she walked over to the car, luckily it was fairly nearby. She got out her keys, opened the doors, and hushed everyone inside, it was cold enough as it was, and it probably wasn't a very good idea to have three insanely drunk people outside in the cold.

"Okay I'm gonna drop you guy at home, Sofi you can stay with me tonight I don't mind," she said as she looked at the back seats of the car, Jesse was in the front and was clearly just very exhausted, well, if he slept, drastic measures would have to be taken.

Vibrant nods came from the back as Ash put two hands on the wheel and started the car, the engine the only sound in the quiet night. Stars shone as sugar spilled over black marble, glistening in the sun, the night embraced it's shadows and refused to let go, for fear it might lose them, or perhaps something else entirely.

Everyone had seemed to calm down a little, Sofi and V were pretty much asleep at this point, with Sofi sleeping on her shoulder, Jesse meanwhile was probably sleeping, it was hard to determine considering the fact that he wasn't exactly doing anything, the most boring drunk around it seemed.

And as she drove down the empty streets of New York, dark and quiet, her mind couldn't help but go back to the night club. She lied in a coven of shadows as the street lights refused to light up the car, the only form of color outside being a haunting yellow, and nothing else.

Her words echoed in the back of her mind

"Hate you too Ash. This was fun"

They kept on playing and playing. Her soft voice playing on repeat, the image of them being so close again...

The dance played at the back of her mind, her emerald eyes sparkling in the dark, and the fire of her hair burning in the shadows of the night club.

She hated her, yet there was something...

There was something.

"She's a bitch, that's what she is," she muttered as she slowed to a stop at a stop sign, she wanted to get back in there and scream and yell at her, there was a fury inside of her that refused to be quenched.

Yet she couldn't help but think back. She hated her of course but...

She reclined her arm on the car window, the glass was freezing but it brought an odd comfort, her body was burning up with rage and the freezing cold brought home something more peaceful.

"Godamn V, this was one hell of a night," she said, letting a soft smile break through her lips as she looked back at her, tonight was fun, that at least was true.

A few minutes later, they arrived at V's house, she had no idea where Jesse lived so she thought it best to drop him off there too. She stopped the car and went off to open the one from V's side

"Honey? V? Wake up, we gotta get you to bed," she whispered softly as she tried to shake her friend away.

"Huh? 5 more minutes..." she muttered out sleepily, trying to get some sleep. Nonetheless, V somewhat complied and she managed to get her out of the car, a little more difficult than expected but they did it. Jesse followed after, silent as always and she took out V's house keys and opened the door. She brought them down to the bedroom and put them in bed.

"Goodnight y'all," she said softly giving them both a kiss on the cheek and closed the lights before locking the door and getting back in the car.

"Yo Sofi, you wanna come up front?" she asked looking back at her possibly sleeping, friend.

Silence.

"Science Girl what the fuck did you drink tonight..." she chuckled silently to herself as she started the car and drove home.

The ride back was devoid of any talk, silence filled the air, nothing to say, nothing to talk. It was an odd comfort of sorts, the silence brought a feeling of peace to Ash's ears and at that moment, she couldn't ask for anything else.

But something was nagging her, nothing too serious, but just the thought of her and Scarlett back at the night club.

"It's nothing. You're probably just overreacting" she muttered to herself as she arrived at the apartment building.

She parked her car nearby and tried to see if she could get Sofi awake.

No luck

"Fuck." she grunted out, a little annoyed that she wouldn't wake up "The things I do for you Science Girl..." she muttered and picked her friend up, head on one arm and leg on the other as she brought her bridesmaids style.

"H-Hey Mrr. Bojing" she stammered out as she opened the door to the apartment, for someone shorter than her, she was awfully heavy

"Ash! Uh... Should I ask?" he questioned, pointing a finger as he saw her holding Sofi, a little strange but no questions needed to be said

"She got drunk and uh, decided to pass out," she replied

"Ahhh I remember those days, good times, the day after was terrible, but good times. Anyway, tell me if she vomits tomorrow, I can make her some tea."

"Thanks, I'll do that. Anyway, goodnight!" she finished off and they both waved goodbye. The elevator (luckily), didn't break down and she managed to get her friend inside safely, dropping her off at the couch, breathing a sigh of relief as she let go.

"I'm getting drunk next time, let's see how you'd like to carry me." she teased as she took the empty bowl of popcorn and went to put it on the kitchen counter, already taking out a tea bag for tomorrow when Sofi would inevitably puke her insides out.

"Well you sure as hell ain't sleeping in the couch, might as well bring you to bed I suppose." she sighed as she wrapped her arms around her, bridesmaids style, and brought her to the bed. In another world, it could've been considered both majestic and dazzling.

In this case, it was not. The bed was fairly cramped, the sheets all over the place and it wasn't exactly fit for a princess. Or a prince. Or, any actual type of royalty.

Hell, most self-respecting people probably had a bigger bed, but our dear Ashleigh was not one of those people.

"Gonna get a little cramped but you'll be fine. Probably?" she added as she dropped her on the bed, a thud as the body hit the mattress, she tucked her in and closed the door

"I'll join her in a bit." she thought to herself as she checked the time.

4am

"Oh it's early, nothing to worry about." she thought to herself as she sat down on the couch "If I turn on the TV, neighbors upstairs gonna wake up," she muttered as she found herself grabbing onto the remote, there wasn't much to do unless...

"Fuck it. 4am is the hour of music isn't it?" she admitted as she got up from the couch, leaving the remote behind as she grabbed the guitar that lay tucked away from the outside world, to protect it from harm. Leaving it somewhere else would probably make it easier to use, but closed off from harm it would never suffer anything whatsoever.

Hesitantly she started opening the door to her apartment, feeling like she'd forgotten something

"Better bring a jacket" she muttered and dashed to her room, opening the creaking door slowly as she grabbed a wooly jacket with a few threads loose, and put it on.

She got on the stairs and headed up to the roof, she wasn't gonna take her chances with the elevator, three times and it hadn't broken down? Any more and the elevator would crash and burn. Either way, it wasn't a long trip of stairs and as she arrived, she got out her keys and opened the creaky metal door.

"Been a long time since I've been here huh?" she smiled, recalling fond memories of this very roof, when she first moved in she'd come up here every night, for anything. To cry, text, read, but she'd always come up here. Watching the empty streets as the sky around her grew darker, feeling the cold wind against her as she sat there on the edge.

This time, it was 4am.  
Well, she did tend to come at 4am, but she'd stop coming a few months ago. Not necessarily for any reason... She just did.

"Good to be back..." she sighed as she sat on the edge, hanging her legs as she hit her feet against the wall.

Even in the velvet dark, there is the light of the stars, a promise that even when times seem darkest, the stars exist to bring hope, of love, of a better future. The street lamps reflections in the black river of whatever the hell was not there, stretched like flaming stilts, ruffled by the cold breeze of the winter.

She gazed up at the painting of stars, and at that moment, it was as if time ceased to stop. As if she was alone in the universe at that moment, and she felt peace, a sense of tranquility, and she asked for nothing less.

"Miss you dad." her voice broke a little as said those words, she still missed him. More than 5 years later, and she still missed him.

But perhaps, that was no curse.

For the people that leave us, will be kept in our hearts eternally. A part of us wherever we go.

Still, that didn't make it any much better as a single tear rolled down her cheek. Ash wasn't an emotional person, she didn't want people to see the most fragile side of herself. The only two people she had ever shown it to was Sofi, and as much as she hated to admit it, Scarlett was the first person to truly know her.

Well, her dad too. But that was... a little different.

"Wish you were here old man." she cracked a painful smile as she wiped the tears that kept on coming. And so she played.

For a long time, the guitar was what kept her from breaking down. A sense of calm in a world of storm, in a world that wanted to take away everything she loved, the guitar stayed as a symbol, perhaps of power, or of art.

But it was there, and that was more than what could be said for certain people.

But then Sofi came along, and so did V, and so did Jesse. They brought her back, and so she lost the touch of her guitar. Playing occasionally, but it wasn't... It wasn't that symbol of power it used to be.

She'd stopped a few months ago, but she was back now. And for whatever reason, she knew not.

She thought back to the night club, and to her father, and to all of life's greatest joy and miseries, and she plucked the first string.

"I wonder

You twist, and I'll fall apart

Find an Empire of Dirt

I buried you deep

Your name, burned into my soul

Did I ever forget?

Perhaps, I've always known

But come on, did I ever really give a fuck?

Wish I knew,

After all,

Don't you hold the key?"

Her voice quavered as she sang her last note, her music fading into the twilight sky as she sat there, looking down on the world below as she breathed a sigh of relief, she was at peace, and she wanted nothing more.

As she enjoyed her moment of silence, she found her phone vibrant, she took it out hesitantly, reading from the contact name saying "Fuck You Bitch 🖕🏾"

Scarlett.

"The fuck is she texting me for?" she muttered impatiently, after tonight she'd have been fine losing Scarlett to time itself, destined to never see each other again. She'd have been great with that! Perfect in fact, after all, she didn't care for her and her emerald eyes and her fiery hair, of course not!

She despised her, and frankly, she'd be better off without her.

And so, she did what any rational person would do, instead of ignoring the text and moving on with her life, she unlocked her phone and saw the message.

"Still hate you, but tonight was fun. You up for hanging out tomorrow?"  
"The fucking nerve..." she grunted out, shaking her head over the message she had received. She couldn't help but crack a smile at the irony of the whole situation, sadistic, cruel, and nothing less than horrible, but a little ironic, nonetheless.

She hesitated before she wrote the response to her text. Wondering that if perhaps what she was thinking was the best thing to write. But she wanted to go deeper down this rabbit hole, might as well see where it led than living a life of always wondering.  
"Fuck it. I'll hang out with you. Same place? Same time?" she wrote, waiting for a reply. Her face wrought with hate, godamn she hated that little fuck. But something pulled her in, and she sure as hell wasn't going to pass out on a chance of showing off her skill of dance in front of the person she hated most

You see Dear Reader, Ash wasn't a person of hate. She did her best to love all, and those who did evil she thought to be unworthy of receiving any sort of extreme feeling from her, they didn't deserve her hate.

But with Scarlett... Scarlett could bring out a passion from her that no else could, a fire in her soul that would consume all in the name of hatred.

It wasn't always like this.

At least not the hatred part anyway.

It took her a little while to answer, Ash almost being petty enough to comment on that as she read the text she was sent

"I'll text you, 6:30pm, sunset?"

Ash rolled her eyes, a little exasperated "This girl's gonna be the death of me huh..." she muttered annoyed

"Fine. Go to sleep or stay fucking awake, hate you either way," she answered, hoping to stop talking to this human scum she couldn't get off her mind.

"Always your lovable self aren't you? Goodnight Ash, hate you too."

She cracked a smirk at the text, much to her dismay, she couldn't be furious over everything she, a little to her disappointment. She hated her. Everything about her. From her eyes that sparkled in the deepest shadows, to the auburn hair that burned every eye that came close it, to the muscles that ran down her bicep, and the way her smile shone, even when all seemed lost.

She hated everything about her.

Every godamn little thing.

"It's fine. Just one more dance and she'll be completely out of your life. Ash, you're gonna be fine." she thought to herself, just an hour or two with her, and then she'd remain a figure of the past. Never to be found again, a ghost that would haunt the memories of other people.

She checked her phone, in hopes of thinking that it was earlier than what she thought it was, unfortunately, she was left a little mistaken.

The analog clock turned to 5am, and the street came alive once again as Ash heard a car zoom on down the steer, the tires curving under the stone road as life came into the cities once again, as if life coming back to a dead soul

"I should uh... Probably get some sleep," she muttered as she stood up, wiping dust and all sorts of random miscellaneous things from her jeans.

She turned her back on the City that Never Slept and walked back over to the stairs, taking out her keys and unlocking the door before she walked slowly down the stairs, making sure to not hit her guitar against the hallow walls of the building

She opened her apartment door slowly, making sure to not wake anyone up, and dropped off her guitar by the door, setting it down easily as she closed the door

As she walked back to her room (which frankly didn't take very long, her house was fairly cramped, to say the least), her mind was brought back to the text she had gotten a few minutes ago

"It's fine... one more time won't kill anyone," she muttered a little annoyed as she opened the door to her room, looking over the girl that lay down in her bed

"Science Girl you really wanna take up most of the bed huh?" she teased, opening her closet and grabbing a blanket before heading off to the couch, Sofi was taking up most of the bed, and besides, the couch was always great to sleep in.

Well, sometimes anyway.

Perhaps a beautifully designed long ago, the couch had gone past the point of distress, small tears and holes making up most of it. Despite this, it was a testimony to how much it had gone through. The couch had quite the history, and well, it was hers. She could ask for nothing else.

She dropped herself on the couch, slightly hurting her back as she practically threw herself onto her makeshift bed, she didn't bother getting a pillow. And as she pushed the blanket onto her, she found sleep coming like the falling of an ax, hitting her like a train as she closed her hazel eyes

And at that moment, she had no worries. The world was at peace, and she could sleep. Outside, only the sounds of cars and tires squealing were heard. A nocturnal concrete jungle, the world was waking up and she lied there, drifting off to a peaceful sleep.

Perhaps tomorrow would be worse, or even better.

But at that moment? Well, Dear Reader, she didn't really give a fuck.

She didn't dream of anything, for sleep, that night was devoid of emotion. Only a collapse of everything that had happened that day, a slumber of exhaustion.

Sleep... Well, truly something.

She woke up a few hours later, Ash wasn't exactly a very heavy sleeper and instead of sleeping on a Saturday morning, she usually just went to sleep at 6am, only to wake up two hours later

Well, the early bird gets the worm, doesn't it?

"The fuck am I doing here??" she muttered out as her eyes readjusted to the light, she had no memory of sleeping on a couch unless she was kidnapped and put on a couch that looked exactly the same as hers.

"Oh. Wait. Yeah, Sofi." she realized, a little relieved that she wasn't kidnapped and put in the same surroundings as her previous home. That would certainly be... Quite the experience

She took off the blanket, a cute little exotic piece woven by her grandma when she was younger, it was always her favorite and she made sure to take it out in the colder nights.

Or in those cases, nights where she slept on the couch. Practically the same either way, the night did tend to be pretty cold.

She got up and threw the blanket on the couch, walking over to the kitchen in hopes of making some breakfast, she and Sofi usually had it together, and it certainly helped to have her sleepover.

Well, not exactly her choice either way.

"Okayy... What the fuck do we have here?" she muttered opening the kitchen cabinet to see if they actually had anything edible to eat

Well, the cereal looked sort of edible. "We got any pancake mix?" she asked checking some other cabinets before opening the fridge to see if they had anything else.

Her search was quickly interrupted by a groan coming from her room. Ahh, the hangover. The best part of drinking wasn't it?

She smirked a little and headed off to her room, opening the door to see a clearly in pain Sofi

"Heyyy Science Girl, you good?" she teased as she sat herself down on the bed, laying an affectionate hand on her back

"My head... Hurts... So... Fucking... Bad..." she whined out as she rolled over the bed "What the fuck did I do??"

"Well honey, first off you got batshit drunk. And then you started telling everyone about penguins on Mars."

"So... I didn't get smarter by getting drunk?" she asked painfully, holding her gut in pain

"Nope! Although you might have started a cult of whatever the fuck you were talking about." Ash replied, trying to hold back a giggle

"Now come on, ima make some breakfast." she continued, trying to get her friend off her bed

"Fine... Just don't blame me if I puke," she muttered as she sat on the bed and got up

"Honey if you're puking, you're cleaning it up." she teased before walking over to the kitchen

"But what do you wanna eat? We got some pancakes, cereal and uh... Something that I'm not completely sure is edib-oh lord."

Sofi had ran to the bathroom and what came out was simply a mixture of demonic sounds mixed in with the call of death as she spilled her guts onto the bathroom toilet

"At least it isn't on the floor..." she sighed walking up to the bathroom and holding her friend's hair to make sure none of it got caught, it wasn't a very pretty sight, but to be fair, it was exactly what was expected from all the drinking of last night.

A few moments later, the squealing had stopped "Okay... okay... I'm... fine." she groaned out, walking over to the sink to wash her face

"Still got a cracking headache though," she added after drying herself on the nearby towel

"Yeah well that's normal, come on, I'll make you some chamomile tea and some pancakes and you'll feel a hell of a lot better," she said as she closed the toilet seat too, hoping that whatever was in there didn't have a stench.

Sofi followed her into the kitchen and sat down on the table, holding her head to make sure it didn't explode, perhaps drinking all that much wasn't a very good idea.

"Here, drink it up Science Girl," she said, passing her over a mug of warm tea, a broth with the most delicious smell one could ever know. Coffee tasted better, but it sure wasn't gonna help as much as a cup of tea.

She gave no reply, practically trying to quench the headache inside of her, the pain was unbearable, but at least she didn't actually drink a bit more.

Dear Reader, Sofi was the type of gal who could drink a few bottles of whiskey and she'd think it to be fine, unfortunately, the day after...

Well, it tended to hit her harder than most.

A delicious smell filled the room as Ash took out the pancakes. These were the sort that had graced the hearths of so many homes in these parts: puffed, browned, and heavenly sweet. A taste of everything divine. If sweetness was a dish then it would probably be this.

"I don't have enough energy to actually get up and hug you, but god this is amazing," she grunted out, eyes closed as she tried to keep herself awake

"You better eat it! This was the last mix I had." Ash replied as she sat down next to Sofi and put a few pieces onto her own plate, not before covering them with a fuck load of syrup.

As all pancakes should be eaten of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look, a slow dance in dark is crucial to any slowburn


	3. The Morning After

"So, like, what exactly actually happened last night?" Sofi asked, a mouthful of pancakes as she ate down another fork, despite being made of cheap dollar store bought pancake mix, they were pretty damn good.

"Well... Uh so you remember piano girl?" she answered hesitantly, trying to avoid the topic of Scarlett and keep to the topics that really mattered. She hated Scarlett, but she wasn't exactly especially important in her life.

Well, not now anyway.

"OH MY GOD YES!!! I LOVED PIANO GIRL!" she squealed, fondly looking back to the very tune and music that had touched her soul so deeply, truly, the symphony in the air was magical.

"Yeah well anyway, right after piano girl you went off to the bar and I think you ordered a..." she continued, trying to think back on the tab that she had payed single-handedly, took a little chunk out of her salary earnings but well, she wasn't going to let a couple of drunks pay their own drinks when they could barely function normally.

"Honey what the fuck did you drink last night?" she asked, looking directly at her

"How am I supposed to know??? You're the only one that was sober!" she groaned out, sipping her tea as she tried to rid herself of her headache

"Okay fine... Uh... One second." she muttered out and dashed over to her room and grabbed the receipt from last night

"So last night, I had to pay everyone's bill. Yes, you're welcome. And apparently the bartender decided to give me the bill for some reason. I haven't opened it till now..." she said, showing off a crumpled piece of paper, the numbers and words were barely legible. Barely.

"Okay so... You drank: 3 shots of absinthe, a whole bottle of Bacardi 151, 5 Devil Spring Vodka's, a Spirytus Rektyfikowany, and moonshine..." her voice clearly grew more surprised as she kept on reading the list, both a little terrified and impressed by the events of last night.

Sofi was a little shocked to say the least, but somewhat confused on the actual drinks themselves. "Uh... What does that mean exactly?" she asked, a little embarrassed as she turned her head back to the stack of pancakes on her plate

"Science Girl, what you drank, would've killed a fucking blue whale." she replied, a little shocked at how much her friend drank.

She drank ALL that, and yet she still woke up with a normal hangover.

Sofi looked at her as if she'd just created a gold bar out of thin air. The sparks in her brain, desperately trying to connect whatever the hell was happening and instead, just caused a short circuit.

"WHAT THE FUCK?" she managed to finally say, clearly at a loss for words as she tried to piece everything together

"Well uh... That's nice?" she said hesitantly, glancing at the receipt, shocked that she managed to drink so much

"Science Girl I wouldn't think too much into it, just... Uh... Consider it a blessing." she said hesitantly, unsure of what to actually say in a situation like that

Sofi tried to compose herself, inhaling and exhaling as she calmed down, deep breaths as she took a sigh "Okay... You're right. It's, fine, totally fine!" she replied, a little panicky but somewhat calmer.

"Anyway..." she breathed a sigh of relief "What else happened?"

"Well aside from starting a cult based off your theories, not much else. Well, I saw V and Jesse get pretty drunk too." she added, leaving a certain part of her night out

"Oh well that's nice, I'm glad I have a cult now." she giggled, blushing at the thought of having her scientific theories (even if they were made while drunk) being popular enough to have a whole group of people following them

"I'm sure your beloved followers will always love and worship you Science Girl." she teased rolling her eyes a little

"Hey! I mean they're my cult aren't they?" she smirked before continuing "At least it's not a dangerous one or anything, it's one about science!" she argued, having a peaceful cult was arguably better than having one that would brainwash people into zealous maniacs

"I dunno about that honey, but we'll see." Ash replied, a soft smile on her face as she finished up the pancakes on her plate and drank the rest of her coffee in one go.

Probably not the best idea, considering it was still a little hot but she did her best to hide the pain and swallowed the rest, chugging boiling coffee wasn't the best way to start the day, but good lord it was one hell of a start.

"So, any plans for today?" Ash asked, wiping her mouth with a napkin as she brought her plate and mug to the kitchen sink

"Well first off, I gotta get rid of this hangover. Then I was thinking of starting off my Aerodynamics essay, maybe we could hang-out later?" she asked, putting her fork down as she sipped on the edge of her tea, trying to console her headache

"Oh yeah sure sounds great! I gotta head off to work anyway, working at a coffee shop isn't going to pay if I don't show up." she laughed, wiping some crumbs off the table.

Well, working at a coffee shop didn't pay that much in the first place. Well, it paid the bills and something a little extra on the side, just barely of course.

Yet, there was just something so special about the place. A place of aromatic dreams, it was a little place down the street, turn a blind eye and you'd miss it, never to be seen again. Yet those who played a close look, the artists, and poets. The writers and those who dreamed, the place attracted them all. A chique little gay place of hopes, dreams, and love.

If anything, just being there already made up for the slightly terrible pay. Besides, despite only three people working there, it wasn't exactly a hard job, or a stressful one.

It got good on the table, and perhaps in a capitalist society of misery and hate, it was better to have a worse job but have your dreams still live on, to daydream and yearn without getting your hopes crushed.

"So, you want a ride home or want me to call you an Uber? I don't mind either." Ash asked, fixing her eyes as her friend dropped off her dishes on the kitchen sink, a clattering thud ringing around the home ad she dropped them gently.

"Uhhh, well I mean I don't mind staying here, I can clean up the place for you. Ya know, a thank you gift for last night." she replied, a soft smile on her face as she sat back down in front of her.

Sofi rarely stayed over, and it was fairly unusual to see her not going back to her place.

"Science Girl that is just so fucking sweet. THANK YOU!!!" she sighed wrapping her arms around her she pulled in Sofi for a tight hug, they generally weren't the greatest fans of physical contact, but those rare hugs of them were truly a beautiful sight.

"But seriously! Like you don't have to clean up if you don't want to." she reassured her friend as she let go of her.

"Well duh I know that! But you know, I wanna help you out!" she replied, a friendly smile on her face, a reminder that she would always be there for her, and Ash for her.

"You're the best honey, I'll be right back I gotta get dressed." she replied and went off to her room, opening her closest door and sorting through her clothes as she looked for something to wear.

Something more or less professional at least, flannel wasn't exactly the most work-friendly thing to wear. Well either way, it didn't really matter that much did it? She doubted that anyone would actually care if she showed up to her coffee shop job wearing some flannels and a pair of jeans.

"Might as well..." she muttered taking out her red and dark blue checkered flannel along with a marble white poet shirt and some light blue jeans.

She left her current clothes on top of the bed before she went off to somewhat make her bed, Sofi could do that rest.

"Okay so I gotta go now, you be here when I'm back?" she shouted from the bathroom as she washed her face and put on some makeup, nothing too extreme, just some lipstick and a little eyeshadow.

"Hm? Oh, ya don't worry, I'll be here!" she shouted back as she cleaned some crumbs off the table, she'd wash the dishes maybe clean up the house a little, and then she'd start working on her essay. Maybe she'd watch a bit of TV first.

Well, no stress either way, after all she had practically a month to work on her essay.

Meanwhile Ash's wasn't even on her mind, she had... Well, a little too much going on in her mind at the moment. She'd work on it soon.

Like in a few days! Or a week. Maybe two.

She hurried off from the bathroom and stretched to give Sofi a hug "Now Science Girl, take care of the place, it's already bad enough as it is." she said as she put her arms around her and pulled her in for a hug, a pleasant way to say goodbye if not their most common.

"Heyyyy you can trust me! I'm super organized! Like I'm fairly sure you gotta be kinda organized to understand The Copenhagen Interpretation right?"

She got a confused little smile from Ash as a result of bringing up science "I'll pretend I know what that is for your sake. Either way honey I know you're organized, just don't mess anything up!" she said as she grabbed the keys from off the table "And if you do put it back nicely!" she continued as she opened up the door and waved her goodbye.

"Let's get to cleaning..." Sofi muttered and with a little groan went up to the kitchen sink.

"Hey Mr. Bojing" she said as she got out of the elevator, waving her landlord who seemed to be quite invested in the book he was reading.

"Hi Ash, sleep well?" he asked putting the book down, looking up at his favorite resident.

"Yeah I slept fine" she sighed, thinking back to her night at the roof and the events of last night "Anyway I gotta get to work, see you later!"

"Alright, bye!" he waved her goodbye and Ash headed down the street as she walked down the street. Autumn herself had dressed up for the coming season, donning her most vibrant hues. Trees of the fieriest orange found themselves growing in the concrete jungle of New York. The cold, sign of winter frost, doodled across the windows of houses, cars, apartments, showing off it's true colors.

Autumn was nothing short of an artist's canvass, painted by the most skilled of them all. For this beauty, was only achievable by art.

The cold wind ran across her back as she walked, stepping on the cracked, slightly tilted sidewalk.

The pavement, in all its stunning decrepitude, looked as if someone had taken a sledgehammer to it, diligently hitting every cement with enough force to make a network of cracks, colonized by new life as weeds and all sorts of plants arose from the ashes of the broken rock. It brought life to a city where grey had become the norm. That last shred of nature was perhaps what kept humanity, sane.

"Should've brought a warmer jacket dumbass." she muttered impatiently at herself as she took her hands out of her flannel coat and breathed onto them, trying to warm them up as best she could. It wasn't a too long walk but it wasn't exactly very pleasant to have that happen.

She couldn't help but glance at the trees that stood tall on her right, the fiery color of their leaves reminded of the divine auburn hair that belonged to no other than Scarlett. Each time she looked, her detested rival lingered at the back of her mind, practically taunting her as she put so much thought into someone she hated.

"Stop thinking about her..." Ash muttered to herself through gritted teeth as she dodged away from a crowd of people, she of course, only thought about her to hate her.

Still, Ash wasn't very keen on thinking about her repeatedly. Those Emerald eyes and auburn hair lingered at the back of her mind, practically begging to be insulted.

To put it simply, Ash was a woman of love. She did her best not to hate, and her new recounter with Scarlett had made it a tiny bit impossible to actually not despise someone so bad you think about them all the time.

Ah hate, wonderful feeling isn't it?

"Hey guys." she said as she walked into the coffee shop, basking in the warmth of the radiator inside, breathing a sigh of relief as she took out her hands from her pocket.

Which was, also quite the pleasure. You know Dear Reader, that feeling where your hands are cold yet they're sweating?

Practically what Ash felt, just a little colder. A ying yang of sorts, where there is sweat, there is cold, and where there is heat, there's cold.

"Ashhh!!! Bonjour am I right?" teased Kat, one of three people (including Ash) that worked there, ever since she had told them about her French-African origin, they had done their supposed best to learn French to supposedly support her, which well, if saying bonjour and baguette was leading French, then indeed they had made quite a lot of progress.

"Yes, yes Kat, baguette." she replied with a little smile on her face, shooting him a deadly look.

"Where's Alex?" she asked as she walked behind the counter and went into the kitchen to wash her hands

"Oh, she's running a little late, don't worry she'll bring a few croissants." he smirked, wanting nothing more than to see the exasperated look on Ash's face

"Ha. Yes, very funny." clapping her hands slowly, expressing a slight little disappointment in him. "Come on Kat, you can do better than that." she argued, trying to get some, at least, non-French attempts at comedy.

"Probably, probably, buuuuuuut... Well, it's kind of hard to be focused on humor when you did just get engaged." he said playfully, a grin from ear to ear on his face as he showed off the golden ring on his finger, biting his lip as his cheeks turned a rosy pink

Ash's jaw fell to the ground, both in shock and in excitement. Despite being a complete disaster in terms of both fashion and general life choices, Kat was fairly handsome and so it did make a little sense that one of them would propose to one another after a few months of dating.

"HOLY. FUCKING. SHIT." she squealed out in excitement, barely trying to contain her joy

"I KNOW RIGHT??!" he squealed back, showing off the ring on his finger, as if announcing the world to back up, after all, he was getting married to the greatest man in the world.

Ash took a deep breath and tried to compose herself, barely able to contain the huge smile on her face "So when's the wedding? I better be one of the bridesmaid."

"Oh, we're thinking maybe during the summer next year. Or maybe during the winter? Yeah, we still don't know." he laughed, breathing a sigh of relief "However, you most certainly can be my maid of honor. Or at least a best woman, Alex exists too ya know?" he teased playfully

Ash pretend to act hurt, a hand on her heart as she sighed dramatically "Oh whatever shall I do?? I can't believe you'd do this to me..." she teased, putting on a mask of anguish

"Oh youuuuuu..." he giggled, putting a hand to his mouth as he tried to cover up a yawn before heading off to the back and putting on his apron

They heard a noise from behind and Ash glanced over at an Alex, who seemed to have a new hairstyle...

Again.

Well, at least the actual hair color itself wasn't quite different from last time.

"Yo Alex!" she said, walking over to her as she pulled her in for their signature handshake "What took you so long?

"Well that is uh, one hell of a story. Which I will most definitely tell you in a bit. The real question in this case, is why the fuck y'all were cheering so hard, I could hear y'all from outside!!" she said, a smile on her face as she dropped off her backpack at a nearby table

"Well, I'll let him explain it to you. KAT GET OVER HERE!" she shouted, calling him over to them, he was an authentic Shakespeare himself, with the ability to make the most mundane stories ever so interesting. After all, who else could make a story about petting a dog seem like an award-winning Oscar movie?

"Hm? What is i-ALEXXXX!!!" he cried out as he went up to her to give her a bear hug, a friendly sort of lad, he did have a thing with certainly invading the private spaces of others, not for harm of course, but the second he saw you, he wouldn't hesitate to choke all the air out of you.

"Easy their big guy... C-can't breathe." she managed to gasp out, breathing a sigh of relief as he let go, dropping back over to the floor

"So, what's up with the whole squealing?" she asked curiously, trying to get back her breath

"Well, I don't mean to make you feel single..." he teased before continuing "But you know, not to brag or anything, but I kind of did get a fiancé last night." he said calmly, trying to hold his bubbling excitement

"HOLY FUCKING YES!!!" she screamed out, practically tackling him to the ground as she pulled herself in to hug him

"I'm just saying. I better fucking be the maid of honor." she said as he let her go

"Uh... We'll see about that..." he said hesitantly, not wanting to upset neither of the choices.

Granted, he didn't exactly know that it was possible to have multiple matrons of honor, so he really was just trying to be nice. Hopefully, he'd end up finding that our or else Dear Reader, the two of them would be somewhat pissed.

"Anyway, what about you Ash, you getting engaged anytime soon?" she asked, sitting herself down on a nearby chair, turning around as she put her hands on the head of the chair

Ash couldn't help but snicker a little at the nickname, as much as she wanted to hate the name, she couldn't help but crack a smile every time she heard it.

"Unfortunately, Alex, I'm not. Offer's on the table though." she teased winking at her friend, not surprised at all from the friendly flirting she was receiving

"Sounds like a great deal. What do you say, if we're both 40 and still single, we get together and get married?" she asked

"Sounds like a great deal. Although, marrying you would probably drive me insane, no?"

"Hey that's the fun part of marriage! Getting someone to drive you insane will spice up your life a little!"

Ash rolled her eyes a little, trying to hide a guilty little smile. "If you say so Lexi..." she teased, calling her by her much detested nickname

"Now as much as I'd love to see you both get married, and seeing you argue about every little thing, we gotta get to work. Now let out all that sexual tension and grab your aprons thank you very much." Kat teased as he started taking out a few fresh baked assortments, delicious, with the smell of heaven itself surrounding them

" Fine.. "they both sighed at the same time, Alex hopped over the counter quickly followed by Ash and they went to put on their aprons

They truly weren't anything special, the light grey color of the clothing seemed to show that off pretty well, if anything it was more to make sure they didn't get third-degree burns rather than any sort of aesthetic they were trying to match

Although, they had achieved the coffee ship aesthetic they were going for, which probably made up for the aprons.

"Yo Alex what's the special for today?" Ash asked as she got out her chalk and went over to the blackboard in the front of the room

"Lemme check Ash... Uhh... Oh, sugar coated waffles." she replied

Soon, the shop went alive with the lively hood of the people inside, artists, writers, and poets engaged in debate over the true meaning of life as energy filled the room, one of art and creativity hood. The swirls of hope and fashion floating in the air. The air, filled with the stench of hot coffee, horrible to some, the miracle of the universe itself to others.

And as Ash hurried around the room, rapidly switching between making coffee, serving it, and cleaning up tables, she stopped for a few seconds.

She couldn't help but crack a smile as she saw what the coffee shop became, once a place of ghosts and silence, it was a painting full of vibrant and bursting colors, desperate to escape as their rays touched life and gave into it.

It was a blessing, perhaps not the biggest one to ever exist, but at that moment, with both Alex and Kat?

It was beautiful.

Of course, the job wasn't all perfect. After all, what coffee shop didn't have a few angry customers? Usually they were fine and fairly peaceful, although every once or twice it was always possible to find one of... Those.

To say the least that is.

Although, if they were getting too annoying, Alex had the tendency to grab them and kick/throw them out, a fair but somewhat harsh punishment for being a pain in the ass.

"Yo Ash, table over there." Alex whispered over to her, pointing at a cute brunette with green eyes sitting by the table as she sipped on her coffee "She's TOTALLY into you, I caught her staring a few times." she winked, nudging at her with her elbow and went off to go wash some plates

"Alex..." she sighed rolling her eyes, the girl was cute true, but she wouldn't be interested in someone like her..

Much to her surprise, the next she looked over at the table and at the so called not interested girl, she couldn't help but glance at her general direction, leaving her somewhat confused to say the least.

"Me????" she mouthed, both shocked and a little confused on what was actually happening

"Yes you." she mouthed back, certainly amused as she tried to hide a little giggle

Ash stood there, panicking for a few seconds before walking over to the kitchen. Well, a simple walk wouldn't cut it. If anything, she dashed over there to Kat and Alex

"Um... Alex no sorry, she was looking at you." she stammered out, a little awkwardly.

"Ash, you sure? I'm fairly sure she was looking at you like she wanted to speak French between your legs." she replied, setting a plate down as she turned off the faucet

Ash tried to hide a flustered smile, blushing a crimson red, hidden by her black skin. "O-oh yeah totally! G-go talk to her!" she managed to stutter out nervously

Alex shot her a suspicious little glance, a little uncertain that Ash was being completely honest "Well. I mean I sure as hell ain't gonna resist that offer." she shrugged and fixed her pixie cut before heading off to go talk to the cute girl

"She was talking to you wasn't she?" asked Kat, trying to hide a smirk as he finished washing up all the dishes. He wasn't the biggest fan of lying, but good lord that was certainly amusing

"It's not my fault!!!! I panicked!!!!!" she said, trying to justify what she had done, and to be fair, Alex did seem to be having a great time as she flirted away

"I can't blame you, she's pretty cute." he sighed before continuing "But godamn, you gals are just a mess."

Ash tried to find a reply to that, pointing a finger before admitting defeat "Okay despite that MAYBE being true, we can't all be Senior Gays like you." she teased

"Hey, I'm not a Senior! I'm like... Well, three years older than you. Okay that's a fair point." he realized, Ash trying to hide a smile at his admittance

"Well let's just get that on tape and we're good to go!"

Their conversation was shortly interrupted as Alex walked suavely into the room, holding an aura of nothing but joy

"Well, guess who has plans this evening?" she asked, batting an eye at the both of them

"That's a hard one. I mean me and Colin are gonna go have dinner tonight. I'm not entirely sure about Ash though..." Kat teased

"Oh, great for you guys! But well not too brag, but I may or may not be having a date tonight!" she said, clearly quote happy with her immense flirting skills

"I knew you'd get it on!!!" Ash teased, congratulating her friend on her conquest of the cute brunette girl with green eyes.

She probably needed a name

"So, what's her name??? We gotta know everything darling." Kat said, reclining on the wall as he waited for the tea

"Uh funny thing, I don't actually know?" she admitted nervously "She didn't even tell me!"

"Lexi w-what the fuck?? I mean you gotta know her name at least!" Ash argued

"Now Ash, she's a nameless hook-up! Those are the best type honey. Ya know?" Kat said, trying to play an equal referee on both sides

"However, I have decided to call her 'The Cute Girl with Green Eyes and Brown Hair from The Table',"

Ash and Kat shared a look of somewhat shock, unsure of how to react to the name

"Well, it's certainly quite the name..." he admitted, trying to figure out what to actually say

"How about we just call her Cute Girl? Seems like a much simpler name no?" suggested Ash

"Oh, sure sure sure, a lot shorter too." added Alex, realizing the name that she had suggested probably wasn't the best choice

"Okay well now that we've sorted out this w  
hole hook-up priorities, let's get to cleaning, I gotta get home early." said Kat "Alex you clean the floors, I'll wash the dishes, and Ash you can do the tables."

After a quick nod from each one of them, they set out to work. The perks of working at a fairly small place were few, but at least there wasn't much cleaning to actually do, sure a few spills here and there, but besides a few crumbs. Well, it would probably pass the safety inspection

Unlike last time where uh... Stuff happened.

As they worked, the air was filled with laughter, smiles, and small talk, to discuss metaphors and the world was a waste of time. After what, would it really end up mattering? Their friendship was based upon coffee and flirting, and frankly, none of them would change that for the world.

"I swear to God I'm gonna choke you. THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN!!" Alex argued putting her hands onto her face as a sign of exasperation

"First off, kinky. And secondly, I HAVE THE VIDEO RIGHT HERE." replied Ash right away, pointing over at her phone as she threatened to unlock it

"You bitch." Alex smirked thinking on a way to snatch the phone away from her "Kat, what do you think?" she asked, anxious to hear word from the only voice of reason

"Well..." he hesitated before answering, not wanting to anger the girl who shot you a look of death if you even thought something ill of her

"As much as I'd like to disagree..." he started to say, choosing his next words carefully "You doing that does seem like something you wouldn't mind doing."

"KAT!!!" she groaned out "Y'all suck I hope you know that." she teased

"Yeah we know." Ash admitted, hiding a little smile as she put the phone back in her pocket "But hey, I'm just telling the truth over here!"

Alex rolled her eyes "Okay fineee..." she sighed "I did it."

"Did what?" asked Ash, a smirk on her face, she was gonna get her to say the full thing, like it or not

"The thing!!!" she insisted

"What thing? I'm quite confused here." she sighed cleaning up the rest of the tables

"You suck." she groaned out before taking a deep breath "I, Alex Denre, took my socks off with my teeth and uh... Put them on my ears as I silently danced to the Macarena." she muttered, trying to hide face into her hands, utterly embarrassed.

"In her defense, she was drunk." added Kat, trying to ease her friend's suffering

"Oh yeaahh! That! It's all coming back to me now." Ash laughed, close to tears as she tried to compose herself

"Ash Corbin everyone! Truly, one of the best." she cheered sarcastically, clapping her hands slowly.

After a while of bickering, insulting, swearing, laughter and reasoning (mostly coming from Kat), they got back to work. Finishing up all the cleaning in really, less than 40 minutes.

"Well, I'd call that a fairly successful cleanup no?" Kat asked, glancing down at the plate he had just finished washing, shining to the point that he saw his own reflection

"Yeah honestly! Possible, one of our best I'd say. Plates are shining, tables too, everything's perfect! Well, except for Lexi over here." Ash admired

"Ash, you're lucky I love you or else you'd be dead by now." Alex teased back

Friendship, a true gift indeed. The truth, Dear Reader, is that Alex and Ash were the closest friends one could ever pick from. Well, perhaps not as close as her and Sofi, but that's not the most relevant. Their friendship based themselves on insults, the occasional bitch slap, and a key common interest: women. Them being the gorgeous masterpieces they are, it was practically impossible for both Sapphics to not love them.

Well, Alex did happen to love the lads, and the non-binary pals, but the gals always held onto a special piece of her heart.

"Mm sure." she rolled back her eyes before checking the time on her phone, thinking if she had anything to do that afternoon.

No, nothing.

As they packed up their stuff, Ash was sure to take a few muffins and all for Sofi, she'd always been a fan and they had an unspoken tradition of bringing her one or two chocolate muffins every time she left work

"You didn't see anything Kat..." she teased snatching away a few muffins as he rolled her eyes at her "Nothinggggg" she said in a loud Whisper as she backed away from the counter, a bag in her hand full of cakes and cookies and all that.

I mean it would've gone too waste anyway! If anything, Ash was helping out with her responsible waste reduction

"Nothing at all..." said Kat, playing along as he let out a little laugh

"Anyway guys, I'm gonna get going, I got shit to do! Bye!" Ash said as she headed over the door, waving everyone goodbye along with some peace signs.

"Bye Ash!!" they said, calling after her as headed out the door, walking back home as she put her flannel coat on once again.

The sun was out and radiated its warmth against the winter cold, of course, it was still somewhat cold but Ash shook that off, it wasn't anything she couldn't not handle. Well, hopefully she could handle it, life's full of surprises.

One thing was for sure however, she probably wasn't getting any frostbite.

Probably.

And a few minutes later, she was back where she started. In front of her was her apartment building, and in front of the building, was her.

She glanced over at her side, those orange trees again. As they sparkled brightly in the sun, showing their true colors, Ash could tell, they were far from perfect.

Yet they held such beauty, such promise of gold and divineness, it was impossible to not keep on looking.

Perfection is much more than the absence of flaws. For the perfect of the world, is nothing more than the mark of imperfect beauty. True beauty comes its flaws, and those trees served as no exception.

She walked into the building, waving a quick little hello at Mr. Bojing before getting on the elevator.

She got out and took out her keys, breathing a sigh of relief as she saw the house war indeed, not burned down, quite surprised to see that it was actually spotless! Sofi, despite being a mess in actual household chores, seemed to have something absolutely beautiful.

"Oh my God Sofi!!! This looks gre-" she sighed out as she looked around, the floors were shining and everything seemed so clean and organized…Sure it wasn’t too disorganized in the first place, but she hadn’t cleaned it in a few days

Yet she stopped herself from complimenting anymore as she glanced over at Sofi on the couch, asleep with her computer on her lap, exhausted from all the work she'd done.

"Science Girl, I don't blame you, God you're the best." she sighed as she saved her physics essay and shut down her laptop before carrying her onto the bed "I ain't even gonna complain this is the second time I've had to do this." she said, trying to hide a little laugh at the whole irony of the situation as she dropped her down on the bed, covering her with the bedsheets as she closed the door silently.

"I mean do I have anything to do? I'm pretty sure I got the afternoon off..." she muttered as she put the bag from the coffee shop in the fridge, Sofi would probably sleep for the rest of the day and she'd wake up to some of her favorite snacks

"I mean I might as well work on my essay right? Get a head start?" she muttered as she logged onto her laptop

"Now uh... What to write?" she laughed nervously, typing away at random keys.

"Now…what the fuck is love?" she laughed nervously, typing away at random keys, trying to think of an answer.

Coincidentally, she found herself saved by the bell. Most specifically a text. A text from Scarlett.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No, this is not going to become a coffee-shop AU


End file.
